CityLab Daily: Michael Kimmelman gets to know New York firsthand in his new book

Neighborhoods are constantly evolving, he says New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman, who at the beginning of the pandemic took his readers on virtual walking tours of New York. His new book, The intimate city is a collection of interviews with architects, designers, activists, and historians who accompanied Kimmelman on his walks, taking him through various neighborhoods to places that have special meaning for them.

The result is more personal than a history book, more grounded in the past than a guidebook and more packed with construction erudition than any normal conversation is likely to be, writes Sarah Holder. She sat down with Kimmelman to talk about the power of walkable cities, differences in perspective between generations, and what he thinks about New York’s sustainability after reflecting on so many of its neighborhoods. Today in CityLab: An architectural critic’s street-level view of a troubled metropolis